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CCHS Senior Wins National Award for County Bridge Design

CCHS Senior Nick Pings (center) proudly displays a copy of his 3rd place national winning engineering design of a Fremont County Bridge on Garden Park Road. Pictured at left is Fremont County Transporation Director Tony Adamic and to his right, drafting teacher Mike Geesaman.

The Fremont County Board of Commissioners took time at this week’s regular meeting to note a special honor earned by a Cañon City High School drafting student.    CCHS Senior Nick Pings learned this spring that his engineering design drawing of a Fremont County bridge earned a third place award in national competition of the American Design and Drafting Association.    Pings told the Board that for his final project in his senior year he decided to enter the open category.

County Transportation Director Tony Adamic said Pings approached him last fall regarding an idea to do an engineered drawing of a county bridge.   Adamic said the bridge chosen by Pings for the project is the bridge over Four Mile Creek on Garden Park Road north of Cañon City that was built in the 1970’s.    The bridge is located near the BLM’s Dinosaur Flats turnoff.     Pings said in addition to engineering specifications he obtained from county files he took measurements of the bridge.

Pings told the Board of Commissioners that he plans to attend Colorado State University next fall majoring in Civil Engineering and Construction Management.    He said the two years of drafting classes he took at Cañon City High School under the instruction of Mike Geesaman will give him a head start in his college studies by providing college prerequisite credits.

Geesaman said besides Pings’ accomplishments in the national competition, the opportunity of working with county staff and the attention to his success by the Board of Commissioners, affords a student a real life experience in developing and completing a project.